


Beautiful Minds

by jetplane



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Angst, Brain Surgery, Cancer, Character Death, Death, F/M, Orphans, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pregnancy, Sick Character, Sickfic, Surgery, Terminal Illnesses, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-01-23 10:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 7,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21319078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jetplane/pseuds/jetplane
Summary: Everything is going well for Link and Amelia. They're expecting a baby and starting to talk about making things more permanent between the two of them. But everything changes when Link gets sick. Can their relationship survive this? Can they both survive this at all?
Relationships: Atticus Lincoln/Amelia Shepherd
Comments: 13
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place some time after 16x06 (the last episode to have aired before I wrote this first chapter)

It started small. 

First was the fatigue. As a surgeon, that wasn’t completely unexpected. He wrote it off as a sign that he’d been working too hard, and cut back his hours. Besides, he could use the time. Between his parents’ wedding and Amelia’s pregnancy, there was plenty else to keep him busy. 

Next, he began having difficulty with his memory. It was nothing major, but a little disconcerting as a doctor. He had to be reminded of what procedures he was scheduled to do, or check a patient’s chart three times before he could recall their name. But still, Link chalked it up to stress.

And then there was the pain. It started with a dull ache in his leg that he told himself was just a pulled muscle even as he moved up an appointment with his oncologist. But then, one night as they stayed over at the Grey-Shepherd residence, Amelia woke up to the sound of retching. She saw the light in the bathroom and rushed in to find her boyfriend violently throwing up into the toilet. 

“Link!” she cried out. “Are you okay?”

He nodded weakly, face pale and streaked with sweat. “I’m fine,” he choked out, then vomited again. “Go back to sleep.”

“You’re not fine,” Amelia replied. She put her hand to his forehead. It was hot to the touch. “You have a fever. I’ll get you some-“ 

She never finished her sentence. Link’s eyes glazed over, and his head lolled back. He fell backwards, convulsing violently. 

“Meredith!” Amelia screamed. Her instincts took over, and she managed to catch her boyfriend before he hit the ground. As gently as she could in the cramped bathroom, Amelia eased his body onto the floor and rolled him onto his side. Spotting a nearby towel, she quickly folded it and slipped it under his head to protect him. “Meredith!”

Her sister-in-law appeared in the doorway. “Oh,” she breathed. “I’m calling 911.” 

“My phone is on the nightstand,” Amelia told her quickly. Meredith ducked back into the bedroom and retrieved the phone. Amelia could hear her talking to the dispatcher. 

Maggie appeared moments later. “What’s going on?” she asked. Then she saw Link on the floor. “What do you need me to do?” she asked Amelia. 

“Check on the kids,” Meredith ordered her. “I don’t want them coming in here.”

“All right.” Maggie disappeared down the hallway to the kids’ bedrooms. 

“How long has he been like this?” Meredith asked. 

“Just now,” Amelia told her. “I saw the light on and when I came in he was vomiting and feverish. I was going to get him some water when the seizure started. I didn’t know he was sick.”

“It’s not your fault,” Meredith reassured her. “Paramedics are on the way. I told them to take us to Grey-Sloan. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise.”

Amelia nodded weakly. But as she looked at her sister’s expression, she could tell that neither of them quite believed it.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link gets a diagnosis at Grey-Sloan.

Amelia stared at the scans. Her fingers traced every line, every curve of the image of Link’s brain as if her touch alone would be enough to erase the grim reality it displayed.

“Amelia,” Tom Koracick said with an unusual softness in his voice. “I’m sorry.”

She said nothing.

“If you’d prefer, I can tell Link,” he offered. 

“No,” she replied. “I need to do it. He should hear it from me.”

Koracick nodded solemnly. “If you need anything…” he offered, then trailed off. His words were empty, absent of his usual bravado. He knew there was very little, if anything, he could do in this circumstance. “I’ll go with you when you tell him.”

Atticus Lincoln woke up in the hospital. For a moment, he wasn’t sure where he was. His head felt fuzzy. Then, he spotted Amelia sitting at his bedside.

“Hey,” he muttered groggily. “What – what happened?”

“You’re at Grey-Sloan,” Amelia told him gently. She bit her lip, trying to gather the strength to tell her boyfriend the awful news she had learned only hours before. “You had a seizure.”

Link furrowed his brow, trying to think back to the last thing he remembered. He knew he’d finished his shift, then driven home with Amelia and her sisters. He recalled falling asleep next to Amelia. Everything after that was a blur. 

He glanced around the room. As his vision came into focus, he saw Koracick standing by the doorway, arms crossed. In the corner was Jo. She looked like she’d been crying. When Link caught her eye, she gave him a weak, brave smile. 

“What is it?” he asked. 

No one said anything. 

Link chuckled uneasily. “Come on, somebody tell me what’s going on. It can’t be that bad, can it?”

“Link,” Amelia began softly. She looked away, unable to meet her boyfriend’s gaze. 

He closed his eyes as reality started to sink in. “It’s back, isn’t it?”

Amelia nodded. “We found a tumor in your femur. It looks like your original osteosarcoma is back, but we’ll need a biopsy to confirm.”

Link leaned back onto his pillows. “What are my options?”

“If it is osteosarcoma, chemotherapy and radiation will be your best bet,” Koracick said from his place across the room. “I know you didn’t respond to conventional treatments when you were a child, but a lot has changed since then. We have better options now.”

He nodded slowly and opened his eyes. “But that’s not all, is it?” He knew the symptoms of bone cancer. Seizures weren’t one of them, unless something else had happened. 

Amelia sighed and looked gently back at her boyfriend. She took one of his hands in her own. “Your MRI also showed multiple tumors on your frontal and temporal lobes. We think they’re metastases from the osteosarcoma.”

“Can you remove them with surgery?” Link asked. 

Koracick took a few steps forward and placed his hand on Amelia’s shoulder. “It’s possible,” he admitted, although his tone was far from hopeful. “It all depends on the involvement of the tumors. There’s a chance that we could remove them with an awake craniotomy.”

Link took in the expression on his doctor’s face. “You don’t think that’s likely,” he concluded. 

Koracick nodded grimly. “There are clinical trials that might be able to slow the progression of the disease,” he offered. 

“But if anyone has a chance of getting the tumors out, it’s Tom,” Amelia interrupted quickly. “He removed my tumor, remember?”

Link smiled weakly and squeezed Amelia’s hand. “Of course,” he reassured her. 

“I’ll leave you two be,” Koracick said awkwardly. Link nodded, and the doctor slipped out the doorway. Jo followed him without a word, closing the door behind him. 

“Hey,” Link whispered to Amelia as a tear rolled down her cheek. “It’s okay. We’ve both been through this before. We can do it again.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia and Link have a serious discussion.

“I won’t be mad if you leave, you know.”

Amelia’s head jerked up to look at Link. “What?” she asked. 

“You don’t deserve to get dragged down in all of this. It’s okay if you want to leave,” he told her.

She opened her mouth, then closed it, dumbstruck. “Link,” she said. “I’m not going to leave you.”

“I know what cancer can do to a couple,” Link replied matter-of-factly. “I don’t want that to happen to us.”

“It won’t,” Amelia reassured him. 

“How can you be sure?”

Amelia shook her head. “I’m not,” she admitted. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. Planes crash and people get hit by cars and babies die and there’s nothing we can do anything about any of it.”

Link smiled weakly. “You’re not making your case very well,” he commented. 

“What I’m saying is there’s nothing we can do about a lot of things,” Amelia said. “But I’m choosing to be with you. No matter what happens.”

She leaned over and took Link’s hand in her own. She brought it to her lips and kissed it gently. “I love you, Atticus Lincoln.”

He squeezed her hand, then leaned forward to kiss Amelia on the lips. “I love you too, Amelia Shepherd.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter was so short. I was trying to make it fluffy, but I'm not sure how well that worked out.  
Anyways, the next chapter should be longer and more interesting.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koracick operates on Link's brain tumors

The next few days were filled with tests for Link. PET scans, biopsies, and endless labs. In the end, they confirmed what everyone had feared all along. The tumor in Link’s femur was the same osteosarcoma he’d had as a child. And not only had it spread to his brain, but further scans revealed metastases in his lungs as well.

Amelia wanted to spend as much of her time as possible by Link’s side, but she had tests of her own. Given her history with Christopher and her lack of prenatal care up until this point, Carina DeLuca took it upon herself to monitor Amelia’s pregnancy as aggressively as possible.

There was one bit of good news in all of this, though. Both Amelia and her fetus were in excellent health, and Carina could find no issues whatsoever with the pregnancy. With a suggestion to avoid stress (which they both knew would never happen), Dr. DeLuca cleared Amelia to continue on with her life.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Amelia asked, wringing her hands anxiously.

“Shepherd, it’s a simple craniotomy,” Koracick replied. “I could do this in my sleep.”

Amelia paced the length of the room. “Maybe surgery isn’t the best option. He has mets on his lungs. What if he goes into respiratory distress when you’re in the OR?”

“It won’t happen.” Koracick seemed confident in this fact. “He’s had no respiratory issues up to this point, and we won’t be using general anesthesia as an additional precaution.”

“But it could still happen,” Amelia countered.

“And if it does, we’ll deal with it. I’m a very good surgeon, you know.” Koracick’s faith in himself was equal parts annoying and reassuring.

“He’s right,” Link reassured Amelia. “I’ll be fine.”

“I know,” Amelia said. She knew that Link was in the best possible hands. She just couldn’t help but worry. The neurosurgeon looked at her old mentor with hopeful eyes. “Is there any chance you’ll reconsider letting me into the OR?”

Tom gave her a meaningful look. “None whatsoever,” he replied.

Amelia nodded reluctantly and let out a sigh. “I know.”

She turned to Link. “I’ll be here the whole time. When you get out of surgery, I’ll be right by your side.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Link replied affectionately. They smiled at each other for a moment.

“Link, you ready to go?” Koracick asked. Link gave a small nod. “All right then. I’ll see you in the OR.” He disappeared down the hallway.

Amelia followed as an orderly pushed Link in his bed down the hallway. They paused for a moment when they reached the double doors. Amelia looked on, wishing more than anything that she could accompany her boyfriend into the surgery. But she knew that was impossible.

So instead, Amelia leaned down to Link and kissed him on the forehead. “See you soon,” she whispered, taking his hand and giving it a quick squeeze. He squeezed back.

“See you soon,” Link echoed.

Amelia reluctantly stepped aside, allowing Link to be wheeled away. She watched as he disappeared behind the double doors, trying hard to suppress the fears she felt. Her mind cycled through all the worst-case scenarios. What if he had a reaction to the sedation? What if the tumors were too involved to resect? What if he had a stroke or a respiratory crisis in the OR? What if he didn’t make it?

“He’ll make it,” Maggie said. Only then did Amelia realize she’d spoken her last thought aloud.

“You don’t know that for sure,” Amelia countered. “There are so many things that could happen. We both know that.”

Maggie shook her head. You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to think of all the ways things could go wrong,” she told her sister. “And there’s nothing you can do about any of them. Link’s strong, Koracick’s the best there is, and everything is going to be okay.”

She gestured down the hallway. “Come on,” Maggie said. “It’s going to be a long surgery. Why don’t we find someplace better to wait?”

Amelia was surprised she was still lucid when Koracick finally came out of the operating room. After endless hours of pacing, drinking coffee, and rambling frantically about the worst-case scenario to her sisters, Amelia was exhausted. Still, that didn’t stop her from running up to Koracick the moment she saw him, desperately scanning his face for information on her boyfriend’s condition.

“Link’s stable,” Koracick told her before she even had the chance to ask. Amelia let out a breath. The atmosphere in the room visibly relaxed. It seemed that everyone in the hospital had been waiting anxiously for the surgery to be over. “He did well.”

Amelia looked at her mentor’s face. As the fog of anxiety cleared from her mind, she realized that Koracick had failed to commend his own performance in the way he always did. “Did you get all the tumors out?”

Tom looked away for a moment, and Amelia knew what he was going to say before the words came out of his mouth. Still, she stood in silence as she watched him shake his head. “We were able to get clear margins on the metastases in the temporal lobe, but there was much more involvement in his frontal lobe. Two of the metastases were too involved. If we’d tried to remove them, he would’ve had severe neurological deficits.”

Tears welled up in Amelia’s eyes. She bit down on her lip, hard, as she tried to compose herself.

“Shepherd,” Koracick said. “This is not bad news. We got most of the tumors. With radiation therapy, there’s a good chance of getting the rest of them as well.” Although his words were encouraging, his true feelings were evident on his face. He was just as upset with himself. Even though he knew he’d done everything he could.

She nodded. A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. Amelia wiped it away quickly. “When can I see him?” she asked.

“We’re taking him to the ICU now,” he told her. “I’ll let you know when you can come to his room. He’ll probably be unconscious for the next several hours, though.”

Amelia knew all of this too well. Still, the wait to speak to Link again would be agonizing, not to mention when she had to break the bad news to him yet again. “Thank you, Tom.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as you can visit him,” Koracick promised. Amelia nodded and wiped another tear from her cheek as her mentor left her behind.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link starts chemo and radiation. Amelia has another appointment with Dr. Carina DeLuca

Link took the news of his failed surgery surprisingly well, much better than Amelia. He seemed determined to take his relapse in stride, and tackled making a plan for his treatment with as much fervor as he had for any other challenges in his life.

In the meantime, Amelia was trying her hardest to keep herself together. She wanted to quit her job to care for Link, but he talked her out of it. Having nothing to do but sit by Link’s bedside and worry would only make things worse for both of them. Besides, being at work meant that she would never be far from Link if anything happened. So the couple worked out a schedule that made them both happy.

Amelia wanted to call Link’s parents as soon as his diagnosis came through, but he refused. Even after he went through his surgery, and had recovered enough to go home, he still insisted that he didn’t want them involved. Amelia thought he could use the support of her family, but she was hardly one to judge. After all, her own mother and sister hadn’t found out about her own brain tumor until months after it had been removed. So she decided to support him as best as she could on her own.

Link began a round of cancer treatments a few weeks after his surgery. Between his chemo-induced nausea and Amelia’s morning sickness, it seemed that someone was always throwing up. The couple felt bad for even thinking about it, but they were both glad that Meredith had been fired from the hospital. Without her help, there was no way they could have taken care of themselves.

Jo went with Link to his chemotherapy treatment the morning of Amelia’s second pregnancy checkup, freeing both Maggie and Meredith to attend the appointment with Dr. Carina DeLuca. 

“Welcome back, Dr. Shepherd,” Carina said, looking at Amelia warmly. “How have you been since our last appointment?”

“Nauseous,” Amelia admitted as she entered the exam room. “More than - more than last time. And I feel like I’m showing already.” She rested her hand on her abdomen, where a small bump was visible. 

“Well, you’re about fourteen weeks along, so that’s perfectly natural for a second pregnancy. And every pregnancy is different, so your morning sickness is probably nothing to worry about. We’ll take a look at everything, though.”

Amelia climbed into the examination chair. Dr. DeLuca checked her vitals quickly, then pulled up an ultrasound machine by her side. Amelia rolled up her shirt, letting her doctor spread a layer of gel over her abdomen and then turn on the monitor. She moved the wand around to look at the fetus. 

Meredith and Maggie watched intently as Carina scrutinized the image on the screen. Her brow knit slightly, and all three doctors crowded closer to the OB/GYN. “What is it?” Amelia asked anxiously. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Dr. DeLuca quickly reassured her. She put her hand on her patient’s shoulder as Amelia’s breaths quickened. 

Amelia pushed her hand away. “Carina, if there’s something wrong with my baby, you need to tell me right now. I can’t - I can’t do this again, not now.”

Carina turned the monitor so the other doctors could get a good look. Amelia gaped at the ultrasound image. “Is that…?”

Her doctor smiled. “Congratulations, Amelia. You’re having twins.”

Amelia shook her head in disbelief. “But - I don’t understand. You didn’t say anything about twins at my last appointment.”

“Sometimes multiples hide on early ultrasounds,” Dr. DeLuca said. “But it looks like you and the babies are perfectly healthy. I don’t see any issues with your pregnancy.”

A small smile appeared on Amelia’s face. “Thank you,” she breathed. She turned to her sisters. “We’re having twins!”

Maggie grabbed Amelia’s hand and hugged her, accidentally smearing ultrasound gel onto her own shirt. Both doctors laughed. Dr. DeLuca smiled and handed over some towels. Meredith helped Amelia to clean herself up. “Congratulations,” she told her sister-in-law. 

Amelia swung her legs over the side of the chair. Maggie helped her stand up. Her eyes were a little teary as she smiled at her sisters. “I have to tell Link,” she said. “He’s going to be so excited.”

“Come on,” Maggie said, pulling Amelia out of the room by her hand. “Let’s go tell him now.”

Drugs dripped through Link’s port into his body as he sat in the cancer ward. Jo sat nearby, talking to him as the chemo worked its way through his veins. When Link spotted Amelia coming through the door, his expression lit up. 

“Amelia?” he asked. “Did you already finish your appointment? How did it go?”

She smiled at him and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. 

“I take it the baby is doing well?” Link asked. 

Amelia’s grin widened. “The babies,” she corrected. 

Link’s jaw dropped. “What?”

She nodded. “We’re having twins, Link.”

If he hadn’t been connected to an IV, Link would’ve jumped up and kissed Amelia. Instead, he settled for pulling her onto his lap and wrapping his arms around her in a tender embrace. “You’re serious?” he asked. 

Amelia nodded earnestly. 

“Wow,” he breathed. “That’s - that’s incredible.”

Jo patted Link on the back, then hugged Amelia as well. “Congratulations, you two,” she said. 

“Thanks, Jo.” She snuggled up to Link. “I’m so excited,” Amelia whispered. “You’re going to be such a good dad to our kids.”

Maggie, Meredith, and Jo exchanged looks. “We’ll give you two some privacy,” Jo said, an amused expression on her face. 

The couple barely even noticed. “Our babies are going to be so lucky to have you as their mom,” Link said to Amelia lovingly. 

“I can’t wait,” Amelia told him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link has a PET scan and an important conversation with his girlfriend

“Are you nervous?” Amelia asked.

Link shook his head. “It’s just a PET scan. I’ve had them before.”

Amelia sighed. She wished she could borrow some of her boyfriend’s optimism. “I’m scared,” she admitted. “I really hope the chemo and radiation worked.”

“Me too,” Link reminded her. “And it will.”

“How can you be sure?” she asked doubtfully. 

“I just have faith,” he replied with confidence. 

Amelia squeezed his hand. “That’s why I love you.”

Link’s oncologist, Dr. Swender, approached his bedside. “Dr. Lincoln?” she asked. “Are you ready?”

Link looked to Amelia and nodded. “I’m ready.”

“I’ll be right here when you’re done,” Amelia promised, watching as Link was wheeled away. She’d wanted to be present for the procedure, but Link had insisted that it would be best if she waited outside. Although at almost 30 weeks along, the risk to the twins was minimal, Link was not about to take any unnecessary chances with their health. 

It was only when he was out of Amelia’s earshot that Link turned to his oncologist. His expression was solemn. “I know the treatments didn’t work,” he confided in her. “I can feel it.”

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Dr. Swender told him reassuringly. “Let’s see what your tests say first.”

Link nodded. “Okay.” He sincerely hoped that his instincts were wrong. 

They weren’t. Two days later, as Amelia and Link sat in Dr. Swender’s office, she told them just that. 

“Unfortunately, it seems that your treatments have been largely ineffective,” she said to Link, handing them pictures of his scans. The two looked them over. “Although the tumor in your femur has stopped growing, the metastases on your lungs and brain have not.”

Amelia looked away, trying not to let her boyfriend see how upset she was. “What are our other options?” she asked. 

“There are a number of experimental treatments for metastatic osteosarcoma that you may be eligible for,” Dr. Swender replied, a compassionate look on her face. “I can give you information on them, if you’d like.”

“Please,” Amelia replied. “Give us all the information you have.”

“What if I don’t continue treatment?” Link asked. Amelia turned to her boyfriend, shocked. “How long would I have?”

“Link,” Amelia gasped. “You can’t be serious.”

“I want to know,” he insisted. He looked calmly at his oncologist. “Dr. Swender, how long could I live without treatment?”

The doctor sighed. This was always the worst part of her job. “It’s difficult to say,” she admitted. “And I have to tell you, there are still a number of promising options. There’s no reason for you to give up hope.”

“How long?” Link repeated. 

Dr. Swender looked away. “If I had to give you a number, I would say anywhere from six months to a year.”

“So I would get to meet the twins,” Link said, looking to his girlfriend with a brave smile. “That wouldn’t be so bad. And we’d have more time together.”

“Link, no,” Amelia protested. “I grew up without my father, and it was awful. I’m not letting the same thing happen to our kids. Not when you still have options.”

Link looked to Amelia, then to his doctor. “Realistically, what do you think are the chances of these experimental treatments working for me?”

Dr. Swender swallowed hard. “I really couldn’t give you a number,” she said warily. 

“But it’s not high, is it?” he asked. 

“There are a number of treatments that could give you more time. Maybe two years if you’re lucky. But your odds of a full remission are very low,” the oncologist admitted. 

“Low,” Amelia repeated. “Not zero. There’s a chance, Link.”

He shook his head. “All these treatments have awful side effects, and I don’t want you to have to take care of me and the kids. You deserve to be happy, Amelia.”

“How is losing you going to make me happy?” Amelia asked. “I love you, Link. You can fight this. I know you can.”

“You don’t need to make a permanent decision today,” Dr. Swender interrupted to cut the tension between the two. “I’d encourage the two of you to go home and spend some time thinking about your options.”

It was clear from Amelia’s posture that Link wasn’t going to change her mind in the oncologist’s office. “Okay,” Link conceded. “We’ll discuss this.”

Amelia pushed her chair back and stood up, not waiting for Link. “There’s nothing to discuss,” she announced. “You’re not stopping treatment. I’m going back to work.” The oncologist’s door slammed behind her as she stormed down the hall. 

Link let out a sigh and looked at Dr. Swender. “Is she right? Am I making a mistake?”

The doctor shook her head. “That’s not a decision I can make for you, Dr. Lincoln. Only you can know what’s the best choice for your family.” She looked at him with kind eyes. 

He reached into his pocket for a moment and pulled out a small box. He opened it sadly and stared inside for a moment. Then he turned the box to show his doctor what was inside. It was a ring. “I love her, you know. I don’t want to leave her alone.”

“I understand, Dr. Lincoln,” Dr. Swender replied. “You don’t have to explain your decision to me.”

Tears filled Link’s eyes as he closed the jewelry box and put it back into his jacket pocket. “You must see a lot of patients’ families who have trouble coming to terms with stopping treatment.”

“I do,” the oncologist replied. “It’s a difficult thing to process.”

“Do they ever get over it?” Link asked. “The spouses of your patients who die.”

She sighed. “Grief is difficult and complicated. But yes, most spouses do come to terms with their situation.”

Link nodded. “I hope Amelia is one of them.”

Dr. Swender smiled at him gently. “I hope so, too.”


	7. Chapter Seven

Dr. Lincoln walked out of his oncologist’s office with a heavy heart. He’d suspected that this would be his outcome, and he’d come to terms with it, but he wished there was something, anything, he could do to alleviate Amelia’s pain. 

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a message over the hospital’s intercom. “Dr. Carina DeLuca and Dr. Tom Koracick to the ER,” the voice announced. “Dr. Carina DeLuca and Dr. Tom Koracick to the ER.”

Link wondered what the case was. Probably a new patient had come in. Although Link wasn’t working at the hospital anymore, he decided to go down to the ER to take a look at the case. He missed being a doctor, even if he knew his cancer-weakened body couldn’t handle the stress anymore. If Koracick had been paged, there probably was a neurological component, he figured. Maybe Amelia would come, too, and they could talk about what had happened. 

Link was almost to the ER when he was stopped by Dr. Kim. “Dr. Lincoln, you shouldn’t go in there,” he warned. 

“Dr. Kim, I know I don’t have privileges here anymore but I just want to go in,” he said, confused. None of the Grey-Sloan doctors had ever had a problem with Link hanging around the hospital. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Nico replied, holding his arm out to prevent Link from entering the emergency room. 

“Dr. Kim, let me go,” he ordered the doctor. He didn’t move. “Nico, what’s going on?” Link caught a glimpse of the scene that Nico was trying to prevent him from seeing. Koracick and DeLuca were both working on a visibly pregnant woman who was having a seizure. Link’s jaw dropped. 

“Amelia!” he cried out, pushing past Nico and stumbling to her bedside. “What happened?” Link asked, looking to her doctors. 

“We don’t know yet,” Dr. Koracick said. “She just started seizing.”

“Dr. Lincoln, you really shouldn’t be here,” Carina told him. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” he insisted, taking hold of Amelia’s hand as he watched Koracick inject an anticonvulsant into her arm. 

“Her blood pressure’s way too high,” Dr. DeLuca said as she started an ultrasound. “She’s got preeclampsia.”

“What?” Link asked. His head spun. “She was completely fine at her last checkup. I just saw her a few minutes ago, we fought but she was fine…” He trailed off. 

“These things just happen sometimes,” Koracick replied. “It can be sudden. You’re not to blame for this.”

“We’re going to need to deliver the babies,” Carina announced, looking up from the monitors. 

“They’re only twenty-nine weeks along,” Link protested, looking worriedly to the OB/GYN. “It’s too soon. Isn’t there something else you can do?”

“Delivery is the safest option,” DeLuca told him. “I’ll call up to the NICU and make sure they’re ready for your babies. They’re very good at taking care of preemies.”

“We’re going to do everything we can, alright?” Koracick gently reached over and pried Link’s hands away from Amelia’s. “But we need to take her to get a head CT and then get her to surgery right away,” he said to Link. 

“Okay,” Link choked out. He stared in horror as they started to wheel his girlfriend away. “Please take good care of her.”


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia goes into surgery

Meredith watched with a careful eye as the surgeon sliced into her patient’s abdomen. She was ready to say something, or to step in if necessary, with the first sign that anything was wrong with the procedure. 

Helm glanced over at Meredith. “What are you looking at me for?” Dr. Grey asked. “You’re the surgeon here.”

“Right,” Helm replied quickly. She swallowed. “Uh-”

“Dr. Grey?” a nurse asked, holding up the OR phone. Helm froze. “Dr. Grey, it’s Dr. Shepherd. She’s in the OR.”

“Tell her I’m in surgery,” Meredith replied without missing a beat. She noticed that her intern had stopped the surgery. “Keep going, Helm.” The younger surgeon nodded anxiously. 

“Dr. Grey,” the nurse repeated, a little more urgently. “Dr. Shepherd needs you.”

“She can page Dr. Bailey or one of the other general surgeons on duty.” 

“She’s not operating, Dr. Grey.” The nurse’s voice caught Meredith’s attention. 

“Make sure Dr. Helm doesn’t kill my patient,” Meredith instructed one of the scrub nurses. She stepped outside of the sterile field. “What happened?” she asked. 

“Dr. Shepherd had a seizure in the ER. She’s going into an emergency C-section right now.”

“When did this happen?” Meredith asked as she pulled off her surgical mask. 

“Just a few minutes ago, Dr. Grey,” the nurse replied. “Dr. Carina DeLuca is with her in OR 2.”

“Page someone else to take over this procedure,” Meredith ordered the nurse as she darted out of the room. 

Meredith ran down the hall and burst into OR 2, holding a mask over her mouth. “What happened?” she asked, taking in Amelia’s draped figure on the table. 

“She had a seizure,” Koracick reported. “Preeclampsia. Deluca’s delivering the twins now.”

“What?” Meredith asked. “She didn’t have any symptoms of preeclampsia. I checked her blood pressure myself.”

“Twins are always high-risk,” Dr. DeLuca replied. “Sometimes there are no symptoms until it’s too late.”

“You can save her and the babies, right?” Meredith asked anxiously. 

“Yes, but you need to leave, Dr. Grey,” Tom told her firmly. “You can’t be in here.” He motioned to one of the nurses, who escorted her out. 

Maggie ran up to Meredith a moment later. “Is she in there? I got paged.”

Meredith nodded. “Carina’s doing an emergency C-section.”

“At twenty-nine weeks?” Maggie asked. Meredith nodded again. “Where’s Link? He must be a mess.”

Meredith realized she hadn’t given any thought to the father of Amelia’s twins since hearing the news. But her sister was right. She couldn’t imagine Link was taking the news well either. “He had an appointment with his oncologist today,” she recalled. “We should find him.”

They located Link in the ER waiting room, sitting with his head in his hands. “Link,” Maggie said softly. 

He looked up at the sisters. “Hey,” he said weakly. 

They sat down on either side of him. “I just saw Amelia,” Meredith told him. “Dr. DeLuca is just starting the C-section right now. Alex and the NICU team are all waiting for the babies.”

Link bit his lip, clearly trying not to cry. “Hey,” Maggie said, looking around at all the patients and families milling around in the ER waiting room. “Why don’t we go wait someplace more private?”

He nodded. Maggie led them to the attendings’ lounge. They all sat in silence for a long time. 

“I had an appointment with my oncologist today,” he blurted out when the quiet grew unbearable. He needed to get this off his chest. “Amelia went with me.”

“We know,” Meredith said reassuringly. 

Link shook his head. “The cancer...it hasn’t stopped growing.”

“Oh,” Maggie whispered compassionately. “I’m sorry, Link.”

“I told Amelia I was going to stop the treatments. I didn’t want to feel like this when the babies came, and I didn’t want her to have to take care of me.”

Meredith and Maggie exchanged shocked glances. 

“She didn’t take it well,” Link continued. “We fought and then she left. Maybe…”

Meredith cut him off before he could finish the thought. “Link, this is not your fault. You didn’t cause her preeclampsia. She must’ve had it for a while.”

“I know, but what if the stress triggered her seizure? What if the babies don’t make it?” he asked. “Amelia will never forgive me.”

“The babies will be fine,” Maggie reassured him. “Carina is doing everything she can, and Alex is going to make sure the twins are alright as soon as they’re born. They’re in the best possible hands.”

Link nodded weakly, wiping his eyes. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for saying that.”

“Of course,” Maggie replied. “We’re family now, okay?”

He smiled. “Family,” he echoed. “I like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what's going to happen in the fall finale, so for the sake of this story I'm just going to assume that both Meredith and Alex were reinstated at Grey-Sloan. I know that technically Alex doesn't need to be working there for the story to work, but I'd prefer to have the Shepherd babies taken care of by Dr. Karev.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins are born

“Is the NICU ready?” Dr. DeLuca asked. 

“They’re standing by,” a nurse reported. 

“Good,” She lifted the first of the tiny, fragile babies out of Amelia’s womb. “Here’s twin A.” She cut the cord.

One of the NICU nurses rushed forward and grabbed the baby, wrapping it in a blanket. “He’s not breathing,” she said. “We’re going to have to intubate.”

“Twin B is out,” Carina said, handing off the other baby. She shook her head. “The patient is bleeding too fast. I need more suction, and start rapid transfusion protocols.”

“Starting rapid transfusion protocols,” a nurse echoed as another started the process of intubating the second baby. 

“I can’t find the source of the bleed,” Dr. DeLuca said in frustration. Amelia’s abdomen was rapidly filling with blood, and her blood pressure was approaching dangerously low levels. “More suction.”

She shook her head and looked up at her team. “I might need to do an emergency hysterectomy,” she said. “Who is Dr. Shepherd’s next of kin?”

Someone checked Amelia’s chart. “She’s listed Meredith Grey as her healthcare proxy.”

“Get Dr. Grey’s permission, then. Quickly,” she ordered. 

“I’ll do it,” Koracick volunteered. He’d been so quiet, almost everyone had forgotten that he was in the room at all. “This isn’t a neuro case. I’ll scrub out and talk to Dr. Grey.”

“Do it,” Dr. DeLuca agreed. “I’ll try to get this bleeding under control.”

Dr. Koracick burst through the door of the waiting room. Link, Meredith, and Maggie all jumped up. “How is she?”

“Dr. DeLuca is still working on Amelia,” Koracick told them. “She’s doing everything she can, but Amelia’s lost a lot of blood. DeLuca asked me to get your permission to do an emergency hysterectomy if necessary.”

“Yes, of course,” Meredith replied without a moment’s hesitation. “Tell her she can do whatever she thinks is necessary.”

“I will,” Koracick promised. 

“What about the babies?” Link asked hoarsely. “Are they-”

“They’re being taken to the NICU as we speak,” Tom said. “They’re tiny, but they’re strong. Just like their mother. I’ll let you know as soon as you can see them.”

Link nodded. “Thank you.”

Koracick nodded. “I’ll be back with an update as soon as possible.” He turned and headed back to the operating room, prepared for whatever chaos he would encounter there. 

But instead, as he entered the OR, there was nothing but silence. Everyone in the room turned to look at Tom. Carina’s eyes were vacant as she shook her head. 

“What happened?” he asked in shock. 

“There was too much blood,” Dr. DeLuca said sadly. “I couldn’t stop it even with a hysterectomy. She never had a chance.”

“Oh, God,” Koracick gasped, placing a hand over his mouth. He stared at the body of his student, still open on the table. “Amelia.”

DeLuca closed her eyes and looked away as tears ran down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Tom. I did everything I could.”

“It’s not your fault,” he uttered in a hollow voice. “You saved her sons. She would’ve been grateful to you for that.”

More tears streamed down her face as Dr. DeLuca looked at the body of her patient. Her hands trembled.

“Let me close,” Koracick suggested. “Please.”

She nodded, pulling off her mask. “I can’t tell Lincoln and Meredith,” she admitted. “I can’t do it.”

“I can do that, too,” Koracick told her. 

“Thank you,” Dr. DeLuca whispered. She removed her scrub cap and balled it up in her hand, then turned and walked out of the OR.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koracick has to give Amelia's family the worst news

The walk to the waiting room was the longest of Tom Koracick’s life. He didn’t know how he was going to face Link, the man Amelia had loved, or the two women who had been sisters to her. He’d given bad news to hundreds of patients’ families, but this one was different. 

He pushed through the doors into the waiting room. Amelia’s family was exactly where he’d left them. They huddled together when they saw him, desperate for news. 

Koracick didn’t even need to say a word. The look on his face said it all. But in a robotic voice, he said the words he’d been trained to say. “There was too much bleeding,” he uttered quietly, helplessly. “We did everything we could, but we couldn’t save Amelia. She didn’t make it.”

Link’s knees gave out. Tom caught him before he hit the ground, and then eased him into a chair. “I’m so sorry,” he said. 

Maggie turned away from the others to hide her face as she started to cry. Meredith just stared at Koracick as he tried futilely to comfort Link. As he did, a small jewelry box slipped from his pocket. It bounced on the floor, and the hinge snapped open. 

Tom bent down to retrieve it without thinking. He froze when he saw what was inside the box. He looked at Link questioningly as he held up the box with the ring. 

“I was going to propose to her,” he whispered. “I wanted to ask her to marry me.”

Koracick looked at the engagement ring, taking in the shiny band studded with diamonds. “It’s beautiful,” he said earnestly. 

“Amelia would have liked it,” Meredith said quietly. 

Maggie turned to see what the others were looking at. She stared at the ring with wonder. “She would have,” Maggie agreed. 

Link broke down in sobs. “I should have told her,” he said. “Now it’s too late.”


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link asks Meredith for something huge

Alex stared into the incubators at the tiny babies. They weren’t the smallest or the youngest patients he’d ever treated, but they somehow seemed more fragile. Maybe because he knew so much more about how they’d come into the world. 

“How are they?” Link asked. 

“Not too bad,” Karev admitted to the grieving father. “Considering how premature they were, both your boys seem relatively healthy. We should be able to extubate them soon.”

Link nodded. 

“Have you thought about names?” Alex ventured. “You don’t have to decide right away, but it’s helpful. You know, for the birth certificates and such.”

“Amelia and I could never agree on any names,” he admitted. “We thought we’d have more time.”

“I’m sorry,” the doctor replied quietly. “If there’s anything I can do for you to make this easier, please let me know.”

“Thank you,” Link said. “There is actually one thing you could do for me.”

“What is it?” Alex asked immediately. 

“Can you page Meredith?”

Meredith ran up three flights of stairs to the NICU, mentally bracing herself for the worst. When she got there, she spotted both Alex and Link. “What happened?” she asked breathlessly. “Did something happen to the babies?”

Alex shook his head. “They’re fine. Still stable.”

Dr. Grey’s brow furrowed. “Then why did you page me here?”

Karev turned his gaze to Link. “I asked him to,” he replied. 

“Oh,” Meredith said. “Oh, okay. Is there something I can do for you, Link?”

The blond doctor looked to his sons for a moment, then sighed. “I need to ask you for a big favor.”

“Of course.” 

“Adopt them,” Link said, gesturing to the two babies. 

“I’m sorry?” Meredith asked, sure she’d misheard. 

“I want you to adopt the twins,” Link said. 

Meredith shook her head. “I don’t understand.” 

“I don’t have much longer,” Link said. “We all know that. I can’t take care of them. But you can. I’ve met your kids. I know you’re a good mother. Amelia would want you to raise her sons.”

Grey opened her mouth, then closed it. “I don’t know what to say,” she admitted. A day ago, she’d been preparing to be an aunt. Now, another sister was dead and she was being asked to add two more children to her family. 

“I know what I’m asking is a lot,” Link said. “But there’s no one better to raise these kids. Please, Meredith.”

Meredith looked to Link. She took in the desperate gaze of the man who had loved her sister. Then she looked to the tiny, helpless babies lying in their incubators, covered in tubes and wires. Although she could barely see their faces, Meredith thought she saw a trace of Amelia in them. Maybe even a trace of Derek, too. 

She nodded. “Okay,” Dr. Grey whispered. 

Link let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.” He smiled and closed his eyes. Finally, Atticus Lincoln could rest. His children were in good hands.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koracick discovers something that could be life-changing for Link

Dr. Koracick swept the stack of medical journals off his desk and buried his face in his hands. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten or slept. Since Amelia’s death, he’d been trying more and more desperately to find something, anything, that could help save Atticus Lincoln. But according to everyone, it was hopeless. He was going to die.

Frustrated, Tom let out a sigh and bent down to pick up the papers from the floor. He shuffled the articles around, not really looking, until a title caught his eye. _The Shepherd Method._

Koracick frowned as he read the page. He’d heard of the Shepherd Method, of course. He knew that it had been developed at Grey-Sloan by Amelia’s brother, fellow neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd. But that had been dismissed as a treatment possibility for Link a long time ago. It wasn’t designed for his type of cancer. Or so they’d thought.

-

Meredith was half asleep in the NICU when her phone buzzed. Frowning, she stepped out into the hallway to answer it.

“This is Doctor Meredith Grey,” she said.

“Meredith. I need to talk to you.”

“Tom?” Grey asked. “What’s this about?”

“I just need to talk to you. Are you still at the hospital?” Koracick asked.

“I’m in the NICU,” she replied.

Tom’s sigh of relief was audible from through the phone. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll meet you there.” He hung up before she had a chance to ask anything further.

He arrived on the NICU floor a few minutes later, out of breath and clutching a stack of papers in his hands. “Meredith,” he said. “I need to know what you remember about your husband’s clinical trial.”

“Derek had a lot of clinical trials,” she replied, brow furrowed. “Which one are you talking about?”

“Malignant gliomas,” he said. “Did he ever share his work with you?”

“You mean the viral mixture delivery to shrink inoperable brain tumors?” Koracick nodded. “He did more than share it with me. I was the one who brought the idea to him. We developed the treatment together.”

He shoved the article into her hands. “Read this,” he demanded. She scanned the article, then looked up.

“They’ve refined the process. I know. What does this have to do with anything?” Meredith stared at Koracick for a few moments before it sank in. “You think it could work on Link?”

“I don’t know,” Tom admitted. “I know we didn’t think it would at first. But they’ve had some success in using it to treat metastases from other types of cancer. It’s possible that, with modifications, it could be used on Link’s tumors.”

Grey glanced back to the papers in her hand. “Link told me earlier that he’d decided to stop treatment. I don’t know if he’ll go for this. Especially with it being so experimental, and the twins having just been born. I think he just wants to spend whatever’s time left at peace.”

Koracick looked away for a moment, then back at Meredith. “If he wants to do that, that’s his choice. But he should at least know that this is an option.”

Meredith hesitated. On one hand, she hated to put Link through anything else. He’d been through more than enough already. But on the other hand, she knew that he deserved to know. Even if it wasn’t a cure, it could give him more time with the twins. “Okay,” she conceded. “Tell him.”


End file.
